Philosopher
Simone Weil writes: “Human existence is so fragile a thing and
exposed to such dangers that I cannot love without trembling.”[1] Weil describes a delicate condition
in which intimacy and sensitivity evoke compassion.

Defined as
“sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to
alleviate it,” compassion is a complex and dynamic term that
incorporates many other notions and circumstances within it; passion for
example, is a criteria for compassion. In Western philosophy as well as in
religions, passion is considered a primitive and an instinctive state of being
that is the basis for deadly sins. Contemporary philosopher Roberto Mangabeira
Unger, however, rejects the idea that the passions must be tamed in order to be
productive, and suggests that passions are raw responses that can also act in
the service of reason.

How can one
love without passion? How can one love without compassion? How can one create
without passion and compassion? The artists in the show engage with
these issues through diverse forms and narratives, ultimately showing a
compassionate existence in art.

Masha
Zusman works laboriously with ballpoint pens and mixed media on
found plywood. She manipulates religious icons and cultural forms from her
upbringing and recent surrounding to create a new-world synergy, bringing to
the surface repressed qualities that tend to be overlooked. The elements in her
works are based on quotes and borrowed images including: Byzantine
Iconographies, Eastern European Jewish paper cutouts, Russian Modernism, and
Israeli paintings. By combining these different cultures and beliefs through
abstract forms, Zusman invites a view into our multilayered society. She
creates from diversity while accentuating an intimate symbiosis.

Erika
Baglyas’s drawings bring forth interactions between people. Drawing
with pen on black paper, she creates unisex figures that are in constant strife
and power struggles. The delicately tailored figures, centered in a black dark
void, are fragile entities assertive yet vulnerable. These somewhat severe
works show the hardship in humankind, and allow an observation of our
weaknesses.

Naomi
Safran-Hon creates intricate works made of fabric, cement, and
acrylic paint. Her images and inspiration come from the situation in her homeland,
Palestine/Israel, where she photographs ruined and abandoned homes, later to
reconstruct them using domestic as well as construction materials. Her work is
an attempt to identify with, and suggest creativity and growth as a means for
compassion to ongoing human struggles.

Through
experimentation Alisha Wessler creates alchemy between
opposing parts. Her detailed objects are made from various
materials and often inspired by small readymades she collects. Based on
personal and collective memory Wessler investigates intimate features in the
evolution of human kind – either of what they have left behind, or what they
might leave behind. Stimulated by superstition and ceremony, these delicately
executed artifacts connect the physical, the emotional, and the devotional.

Working in
film, photography, and performance, Jody Wood often
collaborates with willing participants from her community. Here she presents a
new video titled In the Black Box, (Looking Out), 2016,
alongside a stills-installation piece. Manifested through performance combined
with documentary-style film, the video explores the notion of empathy through
secondary trauma. Here she emphasizes the importance of preparation and
disengagement from roles of care-work, and reveals the interdependent nature of
trauma and time.

The notion
of passion evoked in the title signals its semantic root in struggle and deep
visceral engagement with the world. Consequently, compassion is understood here
as a stimulated interaction with others. Thus, the title “With Passion” refers
to the artists’ engagement with their practice as well as with the audience.
These works have in common a wish for empathetic viewing. If compassion is an
ethical duty, how is the audience’s responsibility provoked by these works, and
how does it translate to the audience’s experience outside the gallery? The
exhibition hopes to draw on the ethical consequences of an aesthetic experience
– the repercussions of a simple act of viewing.

Screening event: PASSION/COMPASSION

Saturday June 25, 4:30
PM

Artists: Andrea
McGinty, Keisha Scarville, Jody Wood, Antonia Wright.

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For press inquiries and reproductions, contact Irina
Protopopescu at 917-977-1848